Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 16? Now I beseech you, brethren,
verse 17 of Romans chapter 16. Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them take note of them, see them, which cause divisions
and offenses, the words usually translated stumbling blocks,
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. Now I take from this that there
will be men and women who will seek to cause divisions
and throw out stumbling blocks with regard to the doctrine you
have learned. And what are we called upon to
do? Avoid them. I see what happened now. Look what he says in verse eight. Or verse 18, for they that are
such, these people who do this, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ. They're not serving Christ, but
their own belly, their own self interests. And by good words,
biblical words, words like grace and faith and Christ and redemption,
election, justification, imputation, Go on and on. Good words. Words
in the Bible. Plausible arguments or seemingly
plausible arguments. Good words. And fair speeches
simply means flattery. Flattery. And through these good
words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple. Now, the most important part
of this message is What is the doctrine you've learned? And that is what's most important. What is the doctrine that you
have learned? And if you've learned it, it's
what God has taught you, as we'll see in a few moments. This is
not just talking about bringing people up academically to a certain
level so they know what they're supposed to believe. This is
nothing like that. I want to know what is the doctrine
that I have actually learned. Now the word doctrine means teaching,
teaching. Doctrine is a good thing in the
scriptures. I don't know how many times I've
heard over the years, objections to doctrine, dry doctrine. I don't want to hear doctrine.
I want to hear about Jesus. I want to hear about Christ,
not about doctrine. What can you say with regard
to the Lord Jesus Christ, which is not doctrine? Everything the
Bible says is doctrine, and doctrine is a good thing. God says my doctrine shall drop
as the rain. Now what happens when the rain
comes down from the heavens? Life. That's God's doctrine. Once again, how many times? academic dry doctrine. The problem
is not the doctrine. The problem is you or me, the
person who finds it dry, a dry heart. It is not dry doctrine,
not if it's God's doctrine, not if it's the doctrine of Christ.
Now, what is the doctrine that you have learned? He's giving
us a very necessary warning when he says, mark them that which
caused divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which
you have learned." What is the doctrine you've learned? Well,
everything he said up to this point. Everything that God says,
all that the Bible teaches. I like what Luke said. He talked
about those things that are most surely believed among us. But John gives us an all-encompassing
statement. that we can try everything we
hear by this one statement. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
four. 1 John chapter four. Beloved, believe not every spirit. And by that he's talking about
a preacher. He's not talking about some kind of spirit, like
a ghost or something that's not physical. He's talking about
preachers. Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits.
Put them to the test, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now that
is how I can test what I'm hearing. Does it line up with this? Every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is of God. And every spirit that confesses
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of antichrist. Where have you heard that it
should come? And even now already it's in the world. Now, the first
word I want to point out to you is confessing. confessing, every
spirit that confesses, there's a public declaration. What a
man believes is what he preaches publicly. I asked a man very
recently, I said, does your pastor preach election? And he said,
well, I've never heard him preach election. I don't know if he
believes it or not. I said, I can assure you he doesn't. He doesn't. You would know it if he did.
What you believe is what you confess publicly. You remember
When they asked the Lord of his doctrine, he said, why ask me?
Ask them that heard me. They can tell you what I believe.
The only one who can really tell you what I believe are the folks,
you, who listen. And somebody talks to you, they
say, here's what he believes, because what I believe is what
I speak publicly. Now he's talking about trying
these spirits, what they say publicly. And he gives this simple,
brilliant, way of being able to discern if what I'm hearing
is the truth. Claire, you prayed back in the
study, give us discernment, give us understanding. Now I want
to be able to discern whether what I'm hearing really is of
God. Not just something that is some
kind of pet doctrine of mine, but is it really of God? And
here is the sentence he gives. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now somebody says,
I don't see all that much in that statement. Now, wait a minute.
Let's take that statement apart. If I confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh, I confess that he was before he came. I confess he was before he came. And he came down from heaven.
What I'm confessing is that Jesus Christ is the eternal God. He
was before he came. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was
in the beginning. with God. I love that scripture.
I quoted it this morning when they said to the Lord, they said,
you're not 50 years old. And you say you've seen Abraham.
How do you say you've seen Abraham? I love it when you said Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and he was glad.
And they were thinking, you must be crazy. You're not even 50
years old. You've seen Abraham? Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. The name of God. What about what
he said in John 8, verse 24? If you believe not that I am,
you'll die in your sins. Now, what a statement. What is
required to believe? To believe that he is eternal
God. He was before he came. And he came in the flesh. Now,
in the early church, The error that they were battling at this
time is what is called Gnosticism. And I know that word is not in
the Bible, but if you read the church history, that's what was
going on at that time. And you understand why John says
this. The Gnostics believed that all
matter was sinful. All matter was evil. If you could
touch it, if it's physical, flesh, wood, paper, whatever, anything
that's material is evil. Therefore, Christ could not have
become flesh. Because if he would have become
flesh, that would have made him evil. And God forbid that we
would say anything that would make Christ evil, so therefore
he could not have come in the flesh. And that is exactly what
John is addressing at this time when he says, every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not
of God, is an antichrist. Every spirit that confesses that
he came in the flesh is of God. God was manifest in the flesh. He was before he came and he
came in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the father, full of grace and truth. The word was made
flesh. God became a man. Do I understand
that? No. Do I believe it? With all my
heart, God became a man. He came in the flesh. Now, he
was before he came. He came in the flesh. And here's
the kicker. He did what he came to do. He did what he came to do. What did he come to do? Well,
Matthew 121, the very opening verses of the New Testament.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And that's what he did when he
came in the flesh. He came for this purpose of saving
his people from their sins. He came to save me. He came to
save everybody the Father gave him. He came to save his people.
And that's precisely what he did. Now, any preaching that
Clouds that up is the spirit of Antichrist. He did what he
came to do. When he bowed his mighty head
and said, it is finished, the salvation of everybody he died
for was signed, sealed, delivered, and completed. When were you
saved? When he said, it is finished. Well, I was saved when I, no,
get that? No, no. When were you saved? I was saved
when he said, it is finished. My salvation was accomplished.
Actually, if you want to get real technical about it, I saved
way before then. Second Timothy 1.9 says, he saved us and he
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which were given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now, because this was
purposed, he came to do it, and that's precisely what he did.
He saved his people from their sins. I'm never going to have
to be condemned for my sin. I've been saved from the power
of sin. What does that mean? Well, there
was a time when I could no more believe the gospel than I could
create the universe. There was a time when I could
no more repent than I could give myself life from the dead. There
was a time when I was under the complete dominion and control
of sin. I couldn't believe, I couldn't
repent, I couldn't love, I couldn't hear the gospel, had no discernment,
didn't know what faith was, didn't know what repentance was. Heard
the words, but I didn't understand because sin had complete dominion
over me. And you know what proved it had
complete dominion over me? I thought it didn't. That's what
proved it had complete dominion over me. I thought if I got my
ducks in a row, if the circumstances were right, somehow I could turn
things around and do better. And sometime I'd, somehow I'd
figure out this thing. Sid was completely dominating
me. But no more. I can believe now. Do you know right now I'm trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ as everything in my salvation? His righteousness
is my righteousness. I understand that. Right now
there's one seated at the right hand of the Father representing
me, and I've been saved from my sin, so much so that the scripture
says I'm already glorified. whom he justified, then he also
glorified. If Christ is in glory, I am too,
because I've united to him. Now that's what it means to be
saved from your sins. And anything that is in any way
contrary to him completely saving his people from their sins is
antichrist. It's wrong. It's the one, you
hear something like that, note them. and avoid them, have nothing
to do with them. Now, he saves in such a way that
he gets all the glory in salvation. When we talk about him saving
his people from their sins, he saves in such a way as he gets
all the glory. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter seven. Have you learned this? What I'm
talking about, this is something that you have learned, that God
has taught you, that you believe. John chapter seven, beginning in verse 16. Jesus answered them, my doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will,
He shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. Now, if someone wants to do God's
will, they're going to know the truth. And if I'm unwilling to
do God's will, that's why I can't hear. You see that not believing
the truth is not just an intellectual problem. It's a problem of wickedness,
an unwillingness to bow to what he says. If any man will do his
will, he'll know the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. Now look at this. He that speaketh
of himself, seeketh his own glory. But he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in
him. Now what you're hearing, who gets the glory? Does man get any glory? It's
the spirit of Antichrist. Does God get all the glory? Oh,
that's of God. Turn to 2 John. 2 John. Verse seven. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh. See, there it is again. Many deceivers are entered into
the world that confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. He doesn't say
this is just a brother who has a different opinion from us,
does he? He said, this is a deceiver and this is an antichrist. Now
that's strong language. Was John speaking harshly? No,
he was just telling the truth. This is a deceiver. and an antichrist,
look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have
wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. Seen in that one statement,
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, Receive him not into your house,
neither bid him Godspeed, don't even wish him well, for he that
biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker of his evil deeds. Now that's
strong language, isn't it? The doctrine you've learned.
Turn with me to John chapter six. I'd like to read this 45th verse
of John chapter six. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Now he begins with where we always
got to begin, for it's written. It's written, the divine authority
of scripture. And he quotes a passage of scripture
from Isaiah 54, 13, that says, and all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isn't it wonderful to know that
you have peace with God? He's not mad at you. He's pleased
with you. You have the righteousness of
his son, and when he looks at you, he looks on somebody that
doesn't have any sin, that doesn't give you peace to know that everything
God requires of you, he looks to Christ for everything, everything. Doesn't look for anything from
you, it's all in him. What peace there is, what peace
there is to know that his precious blood put away our sin. Great shall be the peace of thy
children. Now, The Lord said is written
in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God. Who's meant
by all? Everybody taught. Everybody taught. The same all that our Lord referred
to in the same chapter when he said, all that the father giveth
me shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out. The all of And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose. If God be for us, who
can be against us? This is the people he's speaking
to. They shall all be taught of God. Who is the teacher? God himself. Now he may use a
man to teach you, but if you're taught anything, it's him that
taught you. It's him. He may have used human
instruments, I'm thankful for that, but anything that you truly
know, anything that you've been taught, anything that you've
truly learned in your heart, it's because he's taught you.
How is it that you know you're a sinner? Because he taught you. How is it that you know that
Christ is all in salvation and you really believe that? It's
because he taught you. How is it that you can't bear
to listen to anything that gives man any glory? It's because he
taught you. That's why. That's his teaching.
They shall all be taught of God. Every man that hath heard, you
hear the gospel, and hath learned, God has taught you, every man
that hath heard and learned of the Father, what do they do?
They come to me. And I know what you come for.
You know why I come to Christ? I come to Christ like this. Lord,
save me. That's why I come to him. Lord, save me. Lord, save
me from my sin. Save me from myself. I can't
do anything to save myself. If you don't save me, if you
don't do something for me, it's over for me. Lord, save me. Lord, represent me. Lord, bring
me before the Father. Lord, let me found in you. Lord,
save me. That's why you come to Christ.
That's the only reason you come, Lord, save me. I need you to
save me. I need you to do something for
me that I can't do for myself. You know, when David wrote Psalm
51, all he was doing was coming to Christ. Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude
of thy tender mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Wash
me throughly from my sins and cleanse me from my iniquities.
I acknowledge my transgression, my sin as ever before me. Against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
He's asking the Lord to do stuff for him. You know, when I come
to Christ, I'm asking him to do something about my sin. Just
like that poor publican in the temple, God be propitious to
me, the sinner, do something about my sin. That's why we come
to Christ. Lord, save me. Now, when the
Lord teaches you, you know what you're going to do? You're going
to come to Christ every time. And if you don't come to Christ,
you weren't taught by the Lord. When someone is taught by the
Lord, they will come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the doctrine I've learned
is that I'm a sinner. You'll graduate past that. The
doctrine I've learned is that I'm a sinner and he is the successful
savior. I've learned that he is all. Now, what does Paul say back
in our text in Romans 16? Would you turn back there? Verse 17, now I beseech you,
brethren, mark them. Make note of them. Don't say,
well, this is just paranoia. No. Mark them. Make note of them,
which cause divisions and offenses contrary, stumbling blocks contrary
to the doctrine which you have learned. Christ has come in the flesh. He was before he came. He came
in the flesh and he did what he came to do. Anybody that throws
out any stumbling block contrary to that, mark them and avoid
them. Four, verse 18. Four, they that are such serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by good
words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple. Now, when the Lord said, enter
ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction. And many there be that go in
there at. but straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that
find it. What's the next thing he said?
Does anybody know? Beware of false prophets. First
thing he said, beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but they're wolves. Beware of these who come in as
wolves. What do they do? They cause divisions
and throw out stumbling blocks, which are contrary to the doctrine
you've received. Turn with me for a moment to
second Corinthians chapter 11. Paul said in verse two. For I
am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ, but I fear. Lest by any means. As the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, through his deceit, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ.
Now, when these false prophets come in with these good words
and fair speeches, here's what they're doing. They're seeking
to corrupt us from the simplicity that's in Christ. Now, what is
the simplicity that's in Christ? I know this, religion is anything
but simple. It's confusing. When have I done
enough? What is it I need to do? And
a myriad things are given. Religion is anything but simple,
but the gospel is simple. Simplicity means the onlyness.
Now when I talk about the simplicity of Christ, I really believe that
Christ is the only message of this book. There aren't any other
messages. One message, nothing to get confused
about, the gospel of Christ. The simplicity of Christ means
that he is all. in salvation, that everything
that God requires of me, he looks to Christ for. Not me and Christ,
but Christ alone. The simplicity of Christ means
that he's the only ground of salvation. There is no other
ground. The simplicity of Christ is that he's the only object
of faith. I don't look to Christ and something about me. I look
to him only and look away from self. That's the simplicity of
Christ. And the false prophet tries to introduce Christ and Christ. And here's the ground
of your salvation, Christ and your fill in the blank Christ. And look to Christ. And that's being corrupted from
the simplicity that's in Christ in the same chapter. Look at
verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing
if his ministers also be ministers of righteousness, transformed
as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according
to their works." Turn to Philippians 3. Now, it is amazing how much
time is devoted in every epistle to warning like this. Look in
Philippians chapter three, verse 18. For many walk, of whom I've
told you often, not just every now and then, for many walk,
of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they're the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, whose glory is their shame, who mind
earthly things. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17,
Paul said, they lie in wait to deceive. Is that paranoia or
is that the truth? they lie in wait to deceive. Paul said to the Ephesian elders,
for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves
shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. He said, every day for three
years, I gave you these warnings with tears. Peter said, but there
were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you who privily, secretly, deceitfully
shall bring in damnable heresies, and many shall follow their pernicious
ways. John said, many false prophets
are gone out into the world. Jude said there are certain men
crept in. They're not on the outside. They've
crept in, unawares, who were before ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and
denying the only Lord God that bought them. The Lord said to
the church at Pergamos and to the church at Thyatira, you have
them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam, the doctrine of compromise,
or the doctrine of The Nicolaitans, the clergy lady is what that's
talking about. All it means is above the people,
which thing also I hate. Much of the New Testament is
devoted to warnings about this. Now, if you don't think you need
to be warned about it, you're hard-hearted. You just don't
realize how easily you and I can be deceived. I need to be warned
about it. May God deliver us. Now, here's why they are so dangerous. Back to our text in Romans chapter
16. Verse 18, for they that are such
serve not our Lord Jesus Christ. They're not servants of Christ.
They come as servants of Christ. They come as preachers of the
gospel. They come like that, but those they that are such
serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by good
words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple
good words. They use the same vocabulary,
the exact same vocabulary, grace, justification, redemption, election,
regeneration, the blood, go on and on. They use the exact same
words and they'll come up with a seemingly plausible arguments
with those words. I mean, look at the way the devil
did Eve. God's holding out on you. You
see, if you eat that fruit, you'll have the ability to choose the
good over the evil. Right now, you're just a robot.
You'll be able to choose the good over the evil. You'll have
a free will, and that's what'll make you like God. You wanna
be like God, don't you? Well, okay. Eat the fruit, and
you will be. And you'll have a free will,
and you'll be able to choose the good over the, well, that
sounds good. She ate the fruit, and she died. A plausible argument,
good words, and fair speeches. Now, fair speeches, that word
means flattery. That's all it is, flattery. You
know, when a preacher says, you have a free will, you know what
that is? It's flattery. That's flattery in flesh. If a preacher
says, you can progressively become more and more holy and less sinful
by your obedience and by your putting down the flesh and by
your Bible reading and praying and you can do that. That's called
flattering the flesh. It's a complete denial of total
depravity. Now you can count, you can write
this down. Someone that is not telling the
truth is wrong on the fall. Always. And if you're wrong on
the fall, you'll be wrong on it all. Now that's how I hear
it. What happened to Adam in the
garden? Did he hurt himself? Did he need help? Or did he die and need a miracle
of sovereign grace? Which is it? Which is it? What
do you need? What do you need? You know, if
I hear a preacher telling me what God will do if I do, I'm
doomed. I don't have any hope. That's
not the gospel. There's no gospel in that message.
God will do this if you do that. Fill in the blank, whatever it
might be. That's a message of salvation dependent upon what
you do. And if you make any part of salvation
dependent on me doing my part before God can act, no gospel
in it. Now this thing of being totally
depraved, you know what I need? I need God to elect me. I need
Christ to die for me and put away my sins. I need the grace
of the Holy Spirit to be invincible and irresistible. I need to be
preserved to persevere. If you really believe that you
are a totally depraved sinner without the ability to do anything
spiritually, oh how you need the sovereign grace of God. This is out of need, what I'm
talking about. I need things to be this way,
and that's why I have to have them that way, and that's why
I don't want to listen to anything else, but there's something else going on here.
If you love Christ, you hate that which is contrary to him.
You hate that which doesn't give him all the glory. And if you
can accept that which doesn't give him all the glory, there's
one reason, you don't love him. If you love him, you want him
to have all the glory. So here is a twofold reason why
we don't want to have anything to do with that which is contrary
to Jesus Christ came in the flesh. He was before he came. He came
and he did what he came to do. And all that are taught of God
and learned from the Father come to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
our experience. And here's why we want to stay
right here. Number one, because if you take
anything out of the way, you've taken away my only hope. My only
hope is that Christ does it all. Jesus paid it all, all the dead
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. And number two, by the grace
of God, I love him. I love him as he is. I love the
way he saves, and I can't stand anything that detracts from his
glory. Now, this is a commandment. I
beseech you, brethren, mark them. which cause divisions and offenses
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but
their own belly, and by their good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple." Now, somebody's thinking, I want
discernment. I do too. I do too. I want a spiritual discernment.
I want to be able to see the difference. I want a spiritual
discernment. The one way that I can be discerning
is by becoming completely familiar with the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The best way you can detect error
is by understanding the true and believing the true. And if
you believe the true, you'll see the error of the false. When I was a bank teller for
that one year where I just blew everybody away with my ability
to bank tell, like I said, you've heard me say, that's the only
job I've ever been fired from. But one thing that I benefited
from is the way to tell the counterfeit, is not to show all the counterfeits,
but it's to become so familiar with the true that the counterfeit
becomes obvious. May God enable us to be just
that way. Let's pray together. Lord, would you give us a heart understanding and a heart
love for the gospel of thy grace. Lord, we ask that you would be
the teacher that teaches us and causes us to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, enable us to mark those that
cause divisions and throw out stumbling blocks contrary to
the complete salvation that's in Christ. and avoid them. Lord, give us that discernment
and that understanding. And Lord, give us such a love
for your son that we hate all that's contrary to him. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
We got Mitch.